Fast Air for Team Yankee - in 15mm scale!

 
Whilst I am in awe of the pre-release shots I've seen so far of the Team Yankee rotary aviation helos, I prefer my table top fixed wing Fast Air jets to also be in 1:100th scale, not 1:144th as the Battlefront airplanes will be...
 

 
I've therefore put together a pair each, in 15mm scale, of the likely CAS aircraft to be featured with the first release of Team Yankee, A-10 Warthog:
 

 

 

and SU-25 Grach, NATO codename FROGFOOT:
 

 

 

The Warthogs were sourced from Hannants models from the Revell snap together range of 1:100 kits, from which I also have a pair of RAF Harriers ready for the next release. These kit come prepainted and pretty easy to put together. All I did was paint the munitions in slightly more interesting colours, and pick out the engine fairings and EW sensor nacelles in black.
 
 

 

The tactical markings are a little subdued for my tastes, and I suspect a little more modern than 1985, but I decided to leave well enough alone...
 
My main effort was in coming up with a lightweight but rugged stand system to allow these aircraft to be placed and moved around the table with the minimum of fuss. The A-10s, as plastic kits, are very light anyway, but I did want the fixed wing Fast Air to fly at a table top height distinctly higher than the rotary Aviation. It appears the Battle front helos will fly about 3-4 inches above the deck, so I averaged these bases at 6 inches. Made from trusty Bunnings coffee coasters and wire coat hangers!
 

 
So here we have Major Orrin 'The Snowman' Snow, USAF and his wingman, having his own private battle with 'those morons' in Flight Ops, vectored back and forth...(TY, Chapter 11)
 

 

I sourced my 2 SU-25s from Quick Reaction Force back in Feb 2013, and reviewed them on this blog around then. A little daunted by the sheer size of the model, I since prevaricated about putting them together...

 

 

Anyway I detest assembling metal and resin models, but these went together much more easily than I thought,

 

 

although with hindsight I should have spent more time sanding - much of the issues don't appear until you've painted, by which time its too late! Anyway, I very pleased with the way they turned out. I'm never too sure on how to paint cockpit glass - my original intention was to scribble over this black with a soft lead pencil to give a silvering effect, but I now think they look suitably sinister and Soviet with just the black - perhaps their nuclear flash blinds are down! 

 

A two ship flight from 114th Guards Bomber Aviation Regiment patrolling over the concrete scar that is the Inner German Border: